EDITORIAL: Government does little to stay within its means

Published: Friday, April 26, 2013 at 08:45 PM.

Encouraged by the taxpayers to keep spending, government does little to stay within its means. There’s been no real push for government to change its ways. Debt only hurts when you do without to pay it back. When the money runs out, the government just borrows more and nobody feels the pain.

At some point, we will feel the pain. Government will cut spending and taxpayers will quit receiving the services to which they have become accustomed or taxpayers will pay more to the government.

The American people must face up to this sooner or later. The guess is that they’ll wait until later.

Some believe that April 15 is the most dreaded day of the year. Americans do hate paying their income taxes. And refunds are cold comfort to those receiving them, knowing that the government is merely giving taxpayers back their own money.

Paying taxes might be a great deal less disheartening if it seemed as if government at all levels was a bit more satisfied with — dare we say appreciative of — what it is getting from its citizens. It’s bad enough to feel the pain. But the pain is magnified by the lecture about how it’s not enough.

And frankly, it’s not enough to cover the government’s expenses — especially when governments squander that money in thousands of ways large and small.

Taxpayers put a lot, about $2.7 trillion, into the national treasury. But government always seems to find a way to spend a trillion more.

A growing number of people are awakening to the harsh reality that the way we finance our government cannot continue indefinitely. Even the government has a limit on what it can borrow and we will eventually reach that limit.

The national debt has grown dramatically because neither the government nor taxpayers have shown the necessary discipline. Taxpayers want their annual payment to the government to be as little as possible; but they show little willingness to do without the goodies governments can provide.

There is always a consensus to cut another person’s program, and so nothing gets cut.

Encouraged by the taxpayers to keep spending, government does little to stay within its means. There’s been no real push for government to change its ways. Debt only hurts when you do without to pay it back. When the money runs out, the government just borrows more and nobody feels the pain.

At some point, we will feel the pain. Government will cut spending and taxpayers will quit receiving the services to which they have become accustomed or taxpayers will pay more to the government.

The American people must face up to this sooner or later. The guess is that they’ll wait until later.